Cine Joia, SP's newest music venue

The Liberdade gem pre-opens with a black tie do

Cine Joia, back in the day (Press image)

What's got São Paulo's music-scene ace faces and nightcrawlers in a flap? The black tie requirement – or 'black fucking tie', to be exact – on the invitation for the pre-opening party at Cine Joia, the city's newest live music venue.

The 'music hall' opens to the public on 17 November with a show by the Liverpudlian electro-pop band Ladytron, but the buzz in the city was all about it's 11.11.11.11 (11.11pm) inauguration, in the Japanese downtown neighbourhood of Liberdade.

Risen from the ashes of a 1952 cinema that was once a haunt of SP's intelligentsia for its Kurasawa film screenings, and later a pentecostal church, Cine Joia ('jewel') has had a loving restoration and remix, from the original mosaic-tiled facade and parquet floors to a new diamond-shaped bar.

Move to the music

A sloping floor from Joia's first incarnation as a cinema means decent views of the bands even from the back, and a 'light mapping' lighting system beams 2D projections onto 3D surfaces to change the look of the stage around the band. Also changing with the music is a rotating set of drinks menus in the three bars and mini-club, so that for rock nights and hip hop, tequila and bourbon drinks feature heaviest.

It's a fundamental part of the concept for Joia's creators, partners André Juliani, Facundo Guerra and Lúcio Ribeiro, three of the main movers and shakers on SP's night-time scene: the venue's aim is to flex with the band and move with the music, whether rock, jazz, punk or MPB. 'Cine Joia adapts to the band and its audience, and never the other way round.'

Cine Joia opened in November with a private party featuring the Traditional Jazz Band, rocking classics by Ray Conniff and Frank Sinatra, followed by a mystery set by a pair of New York DJs.